Development of drug conjugates with water-soluble polymers can enhance the properties of the drugs, including water-solubility, pharmacokinetics, metabolism, bio-distribution, and bioactivity. A number of polymer-protein conjugates having stable linkages have been approved by FDA and are currently valuable medicines (Bentley, M. D. et al., Poly(ethylene) Glycol Conjugates of Biopharmaceuticals in Drug Delivery, in Knablein, J. (ed.), Modern Biopharmaceuticals, Wiley-VCH Verlag GbH, Volume 4, 2005, Chapter 2, pp. 1393-1418). Conjugation of water-soluble polymers including poly(ethylene glycol), poly(glutamate), and poly(hydroxypropylmethacrylate) with small molecule oncolytics has led to several products in clinical trials, but as yet, no marketed drugs (Mero, A., PEG: a useful technology in anticancer therapy, in Veronese, F. M. (ed.), PEGylated Protein Drugs: Basic Science and Clinical Application, Birkhauser Verlag, Basel, 2009, pp. 273-281). Unlike the case of protein conjugates, it is frequently useful to formulate small-molecule conjugates with releasable, hydrolyzable linkages. These polymer conjugates are known to significantly extend the half-lives of the attached small molecules. When the oncolytic drug, irinotecan, was attached to a multi-arm polyethylene glycol polymer, and injected intravenously to mice the plasma half-life of its active metabolite SN-38 was increased from 2 hours to 17 days (Eldon, M. A. et al., Anti-tumor activity and pharmacokinetics of NKTR-102, PEGylated-irinotecan conjugate, in irinotecan-resistant tumors implanted in mice, Poster number: P-0722, presented at the 14th European Cancer Conference (ECCO 14), 23-27 Sep. 2007, Barcelona, Spain).
The advantage of polymer conjugates of small molecule drugs derives from the typically short in vivo half-life of the drug. The short half-lives of these drugs require frequent dosing of several times daily which results in “pulses” of high concentration of the drug, followed by longer periods where the drug concentration in the blood stream is below the amount required for therapeutic efficacy. For example, in some cases, such as Parkinson's disease (PD), pulsatile stimulation of striatal dopamine receptors with short-acting dopamine agonists or levodopa may actually accelerate molecular and physiological changes that lead to degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the central nervous system (CNS), thus promoting motor fluctuations (dyskinesias) that can be disabling. Physiological levels that are maintained at a steady state without phasic peak and trough levels have been shown to eliminate these side effects in both animals and humans. Low solubility of some of these compounds, combined with limited oral bioavailabity, further complicates their clinical use. These problems are largely solved by preparation of a soluble polymer conjugate.
The art is lacking a polymer conjugate composition suitable for subcutaneous injection that is able to provide sustained, controllable delivery of an agent over a period of days to weeks. The present disclosure provides polymer conjugates comprising a poly(oxazoline) polymer and an agent, the agent linked to the polymer via a linker containing a hydrolyzable moiety. As shown herein, subcutaneous injection of such a polymer conjugate provides sustained delivery of the agent at therapeutically effective levels of a drug over a time period of days to weeks.